Legal Niches

Maturity an ?Alien Concept to Video Gamers?

By pete_gallagher

A letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald argues that the lack of an R18+ rating category is not withholding anything other than 'graphic gore' from Australian gamers.

The letter, written by Caleb Owens of Woollahra (thanks Kotaku) may invoke memories of the old videogames as art debate. The author writes, 'There are no great works of video game art being held back [by a lack of an R18+ rating category].'

Owens continues, noting that when Australian gamers complain about edited games on Internet forums, they refer to the bloody body parts they might be missing, while when these same gamers complain about censorship to authorities, they tend to be less effusive, instead preferring  to couch their protests in a broad 'right to enjoy content' context.

Owens finishes his letter with:

It takes a great work of art to advance a ratings scale. When the Lady Chatterley's Lover of video games arrives, all citizens will be rightly concerned if it is withheld. But that seems a long way off.

The full letter can be found about halfway down this page on the Sydney Morning Herald Website.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).